TEXT 52: Outrageous Lawsuits

1. A woman in Israel is suing a TV station and its weatherman for $1,000 after he predicted a sunny day and it rained The woman claims the forecast caused her to leave home lightly dressed. As a result, she caught the flu, missed 4 days of work, spent $38 on medication and suffered stress.

2. A woman dropped some burglar bars on her foot. She claimed that her neighbour, who was helping her carry the bars, had caused the accident. The neighbour's insurance company offered to settle the dispute by paying her medical bills, but she refused. She wanted more and sued for damages, including "pain and suffering." The jury took only 17 minutes to unanimously decide that the woman was fully responsible for her own injuries. The innocent neighbour had to pay $4,700 in defense costs. The two are no longer friends.

3. A jury awarded $178,000 in damages to a woman who sued her former fiance for breaking their seven-week engagement. The breakdown: $93,000 for pain & suffering; $60,000 for loss of income from her legal practice, and $25,000 for psychiatric counseling expenses.

4. Inmates at a county jail sued for cruel and unusual living conditions: bunk beds, cells lacking a sink and toilet, and no way to exercise in winter. These criminals were awarded $2 million dollars, paid by the taxpayers of Massachusetts. Each inmate who was a party to the suit got $10 tax-free, for each day he was jailed. Their award included damages plus 12 per cent interest from the time the case was settled until the time they collected their windfall.

5. John Carter, a New Jersey man sued McDonald's for injuries he sustained in an auto accident with one of their customers. He claimed that the customer who hit him did so after spilling the contents of his chocolate shake (which he purchased from McDonald's) onto his lap while reaching over for, his fries. He alleged that McDonald's sold their customer food knowing he would consume it while driving and without announcing or affixing a warning to the effect "don't eat and drive." The court concluded that McDonald's had no duty to warn customers of obvious things which they should expect to know, but refused McDonald's request for attorney's fees stating that the plaintiff's attorney was "creative, imaginative and he shouldn't be penalised for that." This case was in the court system for three years, underwent appellate court review and cost McDonald's over $10,000.

6. A woman was treated by a psychiatrist, became romantically involved with him, and subsequently married him. After more than five years of marriage they divorced, at which time the woman sued her ex-husband for psychiatric malpractice and negligence claiming that the romantic or sexual relationship between them started before the formal psychiatric treatment ended. She contended that her ex-husband had breached the standard of care as a psychiatrist by becoming romantically involved with her, and sought general, special and punitive damages.

7. A surfer recently sued another surfer for "taking his wave." The case was ultimately dismissed Because they were unable to put a price on "pain and suffering" endured by watching someone ride the wave that was "intended for you."

8. A man sued a lemonade company for $10,000 for false advertising. He claimed that he suffered physical and mental injury and emotional distress from the implicit promises in the advertisements. When he drank the beverage, success with women did not come true for him plus, he got sick. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed a lower-court decision dismissing the case.

Список использованной литературы

1) Карачарова Н.Н., Масленникова А.А. Английский язык: Учебник для гуманитарных факультетов. – М., 1997.

2) Салтыкова и.В., Колосанова Н.Д. Учебник английского языка для юридических ВУЗов и факультетов. – М: Высшая школа, 1980.

3) Just English. Английский для юристов. Базовый курс. Ю.Л. Гуманова, В.А. Королева-МакАри, М.Л. Свешникова, Е.В. Тихомирова. Под ред. Т.Н. Шишкиной. – М.: BRL «»Зерцало-М, 2001.

4) Гуманова Ю.Л., Королева В.А., Тихомирова Е.В. Just English для абитуриентов. Образцы текстов для подготовки к вступительному экзамену по английскому языку на юридическом факультете МГУ. Под ред. Кандидата филологических наук, доцента Т.Н. Шишкиной. Учебное пособие. – М.: Издательство «Зерцало», 1999.

5) Куценко Л.И., Тимофеева Г.И. Английский язык. Учебное пособие для юридических учебных заведений. – М.: Издательство «Щит-М», 1990.

6) Е.Е. Израилевич. Деловая корреспонденция на английском языке. – М. – ЮНВЕС, Иностранный язык. – 2001г.

7) Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition.

8) Cecil H, Learn about English Law. Sphere books limited, 1965.

9) Curzon L.B., Basic Law. The M&E Handbook Series, 1994.

10) Justice and the Law. Foreign & Commonwealth Office. London, 1999.

11) Language and the Law. Ed. John Gibbons. Longman Group Ltd, 1994.

12) McDowall D., An Illustrated History of England. Longman, 1989.

13) Moore J., Dahl N., Famous Lives. Crime and Justice. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd, 1980.

14) The Oxford-Duden Pictorial Dictionary. Oxford Univ. Press, Bibliogr. Institute, Mannheim, Russky Yazyk Publ., Moscow, 1987.

15) Riley A., English for Law. Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1991.

16) Russell F., Locke Ch., English Law and Language. Cassell Publishers Ltd, 1992.

17) The World's Stupidest Criminals. Ed. Jackie Kramer, Jake Morrisey. Andrew's McMeel Publishing, 1997.

18) Encyclopedia Britannica On Line 2000.

19) Microsoft Bookshelf Reference Library 1999.

20) Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000.

21) Multilex. English-Russian Electronic Dictionary. MediaLingua JSC 1997.